Fringe benefits for star teenager at Edinburgh festival

WINSTON BROWN

A Spalding stage star is set for the biggest moment of his career so far at this month’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Actor, singer and dancer Paul Spencer (17) is among the cast of The Music of Les Miserables and West End Musicals which started on Wednesday and runs for the next three weeks.

The former Spalding Grammar School students won the role of Mr Thenardier after an audition in June and Paul hopes it will open up other opportunities for roles in bigger shows across the UK.

He said: “I’m very excited because it’ll be good experience for me and I can meet so many influential people who may be able to give me some work.

“I’ve done shows that have run for a week and a half, but I’ve never done a show lasting three or four weeks before.

“It’ll also be different to performing in a proper theatre because I have to spend one or two hours giving out fliers to people to get them to come to our show.”

Paul’s stage ambitions started when he was a pupil at Spalding’s Ayscoughfee Hall School before going on to join the town’s Polka Dot Academy of Performing Arts where he appeared in shows including Oliver Twist and Billy Elliot.

He said: “I’d always wanted to be a scientist but I found that I really enjoyed acting, so I decided to go for it.